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Objectives. To document and explore the experience of migrant care workers providing health and social care to the elderly in institutional care settings and in the homes of the elderly in the community in New Zealand with a particular focus on the affective components of care work. Design. This qualitative study involved conducting face-to-face, open-ended, semi-structured interviews with 29 migrant care workers in the eldercare sector in the cities of Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. Participants were recruited through various agencies focusing on aged care and engaged with migrant eldercare workers and snowballing through participant referral. Sample size was determined when saturation was reached. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, themes were identified and then analysed drawing on a body of theoretical work in the fields of emotional anthropology and moral geography and the international empirical literature addressing migrant eldercare workers. Results. As with the international research in this field we found that these workers were vulnerable to exploitation, the workforce is largely feminised and stereotypical understandings of racial groups and national characteristics informed recruitment and the workplace experience. Here attributing gradients of affect to particular migrant groups in the workforce was the main mechanism employed to establish worker worth and difference. Identifying with these gradients of affect enabled these eldercare workers to demonstrate that they met the moral and ethical requirements of permanent residency and ultimately citizenship. Eldercare workers in the home were vulnerable to ‘blurred emotional boundaries’ and care recipient demand for greater emotional commitment. The migrant eldercare workers in this study all shared vulnerable residential status and many feared they would never obtain permanent residency or citizenship. All had family who remained in the Philippines and towards whom they had an obligation to substitute care support. Conclusion. Central to understanding how this labour force issue is experienced by both caregivers and the elderly is the notion ofsubjective proximityand how emotional and moral trajectories serve to mediate the connection between the eldercare worker and workplace, the Filipino migrant eldercare relationship with employers, agencies and institutions; and, the transnational nature of this mobility and social and actual citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential negative environmental impact of immigration has been raised in a number of receiving countries. In New Zealand there has been a debate questioning whether or not immigrants share the same environmental values as native-born residents. This article reports on a study of the environmental values of immigrants and native-born residents of New Zealand (n = 427). The research employed a survey instrument known as the New Environmental Paradigm to examine the environmental worldviews of the subjects. The informing literature for the study is drawn from postmaterialist and social exclusion theory, and the study also considers the role of acculturation in modifying environmental attitudes. The main finding of the study is that there was no significant difference in the environmental worldviews of immigrants and native-born New Zealanders. Both groups held mildly ecocentric views. The level of immigrants’ acculturation was found to be unrelated to their environmental attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor nature-based recreation practices provide a window on human/non-human relationships in New Zealand society and for some new immigrants these relationships metaphorically parallel their settlement experiences. This paper draws on the qualitative component of a mixed method study conducted in New Zealand, which focused on participation in outdoor nature-based recreation in national and regional parks. Recent immigrants in New Zealand bring with them environmental values and expectations of what recreational participation in outdoor nature-based settings should and might entail. Recent migrant perceptions of these natural habitats throw into relief assumed givens about the role of national parks and the social and cultural function that these institutions have fulfilled since their inception in New Zealand society. Our research demonstrates that being able to locate one’s self in nature-based settings is central to migrant integration, yet for a significant group of immigrants this is not always possible in New Zealand. This research raises a number of important questions about the nature of leisure and the politics of the environment in New Zealand. In multicultural New Zealand outdoor nature-based recreation, those who participate and those who do not, what they see and what it means to them provides a window on contemporary societal, environmental and cultural politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contemporary economic and social change in the agricultural sector in New Zealand in conjunction with a time of full employment has ensured that labour shortages are an increasing reality for many primary producers. Increasingly too, changes in land use within this sector, especially where viticulture and horticulture have replaced sheep and beef production in some areas, have increased the demand for temporary seasonal workers. This paper explores how New Zealand immigration policy is responding to these changes in the agricultural, horticultural and viticultural sectors, paying particular attention to the use of temporary migration as a means to address labour shortages in these sectors through the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) policy. The paper draws on interviews with public sector stakeholders conducted in late 2007 and early 2008 where the objective was to explore the reasons for establishing the RSE policy, the process of policy development and anticipated outcomes. This paper outlines the intentions behind this scheme, observes current research in the area and highlights the need for further research on the use of temporary migration to meet labour needs in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States immigration and intercountry adoption policies and practice are compared with those of Canada and New Zealand. In the post World War II period, both the United States and Canada have been significant as receiving countries for intercountry adoptees, while New Zealand has proportionately been one of the least significant receiving countries in the West. Intercountry adoptions were addressed in legislation and incorporated into immigration criteria and procedures in the immediate post war period in response to the displaced children of Europe. The early immigration legislation for the migration of children for adoption tended to be reactive and temporary. By the 1970s, there was an increased demand for intercountry adoption, and permanent provisions were established in immigration legislation and criteria. Despite the endorsement of this practice through immigration policy, no national policy corollary that addressed the welfare of these children emerged in the United States or Canada. In contrast, in New Zealand, immigration policy and criteria has been shaped by a national policy on intercountry adoption as a practice since the 1960s. This article traces the development of immigration policy and intercountry adoption policy and practice in all three countries. It is argued that ultimately, with respect to policy priorities and practice, all three countries have prioritized national needs and well being over the 'needs and welfare' of child migrants for adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]